Softball

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What's it take to become the best softball player you can be? Well, you know all about the physical practice and good coaching, about learning and working on the proper fundamentals at the plate and in the field. There is no substitute for solid mechanics and consistent practice! Let's not forget eating right and getting enough rest. After all, rest is an important part of your training. Also, let's not forget your physical conditioning. You have to be in great shape to play good ball. And last, but certainly not least, don't forget your sports psychology! Sports psychology???? That's right! Sports Psychology!!! If you want to get as good as possible, then you have to learn to develop mental toughness. You can't become a champion without a good head on your shoulders and sport psychology will help you develop these all-important "mental skills."

I always get a kick out of hearing athletes, coaches and parents saying, "Wait just a minute! My son/daughter doesn't have any mental health problems. Why do they need sports psychology? They're not crazy!" Sport psychology is NOT for crazy athletes or just those with problems. Mental toughness training is one of the most critical dimensions of your overall training as an athlete. It is the one dimension that affects every other aspect of your softball game. Your skills or lack there-of will make or break your quest to become a champion.

Ever strike out with the bases loaded and runners on in a clutch part of the game because you were trying too hard to get a hit? Have you ever gotten caught in the nasty clutches of a hitting or fielding slump? Ever choke before or been too psyched-out or intimidated to play at your best? Or maybe you've been on a team that always seems to lose games to weaker opponents. How about not being able to hit a certain pitcher even though you know she's not that good?

Each of these examples clearly highlights the importance of the mental part of this game. You can't reach your softball dreams without learning to develop mental toughness. That is, you have to learn how to stay calm under pressure, bounce back quickly from errors and bad at-bats, concentrate on what's important and block out everything else, use failures as a source of motivation and positive feedback, believe in yourself, stay motivated to work towards your goals, avoid psych-outs and intimidation and mentally prepare for those big games. These are just some of the mental skills needed to play good softball.

Sports psychology covers these "head skills" that make up mental toughness and can teach you how to develop and strengthen your "mental muscles." It's the only way that you can avoid the mistakes that a lot of softball players make. They just can't seem to get their head and body working closely together. So just how important is this mental part of your softball game?

A few years back I received a call from a very talented 13 year-old pitcher who was having some uncharacteristic control problems. Her mother had heard that I have a private phone consultation service to help athletes bust slumps and overcome performance difficulties. This 13 year old was so good that she could hold her own against college hitters. She had poise and control on the mound along with good speed. Unfortunately, according to her mother, she hadn't been herself for six months. It seemed that she couldn't throw strikes to batters if she thought they were good hitters. Anyone who she thought was a weak hitter she could easily pitch to and dominate.

How can we use sports psychology to get you back on track when you're stuck or struggling like her. What did this pitcher need to learn that could help any slumping ball player? Simple! She needed to learn how to concentrate correctly again.

The key to playing championship softball is learning how to maintain the right focus before and during performance. The main reason that softball players get into hitting or throwing slumps is because their concentration is off! They are focusing on the wrong things at the wrong time! Show me a game where you've gone 0-for, a time you've choked, gotten psyched-out or intimidated and I'll guarantee you that before and during your bad plays and empty at-bats you were focusing on everything except the right things! Before getting "beaned", this pitcher had two major things that she focused on when she was on the mound. In her pre-pitch ritual she concentrated on maintaining a feeling of looseness in her throwing arm and keeping her eyes focused on her target in the catcher's mitt. She knew that when her arm got tight she'd lose both her speed and accuracy so maintaining a focus of the sensations in her right arm always seem to keep her on track. However, since getting hit, her pre-pitch concentration was no longer on either of these two important "focal points." Instead, she was concentrating on how strong the batter was, what if she got hit again and actual flashbacks to the accident.

Proper concentration is your key to softball excellence. Learn to control your focus and you have the foundation skill of mental toughness. Control your concentration and suddenly you'll be able to effectively master the pressure of big game competition. Want the secret to good concentration? Keep your mind in the "now" of the performance. Ball players who mentally "time travel" into the future and/or back to the past during performance always run into performance problems. That's one of the mental mistakes that this pitcher was consistently making. On the mound she was in the past, thinking about the accident or in the future worrying that it might happen again. Her faulty focus in the past or future distracted her from remaining in the "now" where all of her best softball is played.

In our sessions I taught her how to get her focus back where it belonged. In addition she was able to learn several techniques to control her nervousness on the mound and to integrate these into her pre-pitch ritual. Finally I taught her how to master her fear and put the accident in the past where it belonged. There is only one thing that you can do which will always feed your fears. AVOID!!! The best way to overcome any fear is to do the thing that you fear most over and over again. In a short amount of time this pitcher was back on the mound pitching her game regardless of who was at the plate.

Be smart! Train completely! Work on your mental game and it will pay off big dividends for you on the field and up at the plate!